New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS): The Twitterati have applauded sand artist and Padma Shri awardee Sudarsan Pattnaik for his sand sculpture expressing solidarity with China over coronavirus at Puri beach.

Sudarsan Pattnaik created the sand art at Puri beach to show his support. He posted the picture of his sand art on Twitter and captioned, "We stand with #China: My #SandArt with the message, Fight against #CORONAVIRUS at Puri beach, #Odisha."

His sand art was acclaimed by many, including Chinese Ambassador, Sun Weidong and the Director-General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Chinese Ambassador appreciated Pattnaik for his support and wrote, "Appreciate this message."

Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also thanked Pattnaik and tweeted, "Such a beautiful way to express solidarity to the people of #China during this challenging #2019nCoV outbreak. Thank you, @sudarsansand."

Other social media users also lavished praise on Sudarsan Pattnaik and have flooded the social media with their reactions.

A user wrote, "Thanks. We are all human... And we need to help each other by any means."

Another wrote, "That's India and the great Indian culture and heritage."

"Excellent Sand Art. There is no issue you leave out. Too good" read one post.

Chinese health authorities on Tuesday said the death toll due to the novel coronavirus in China has increased to 1,016, with 42,638 infected cases.